[In response to "I wish more people would realize that we could shut these cartels down permanently with nothing more than a stroke of a pen. All we need to do is legalize the drugs they derive their profits from."]

you're kidding right? I guess we could end murder too by making killing legal and calling it by a different name..

Drugs directly and indirectly kill up to 350,000 Americans per year ( with a tripling of deaths in the past 5 years from LEGAL drugs like oxycodone, morphine, percocet etc) According to the US Dept of Labor and Statistics drug usage leads to billions in loss of productivity............I could go on like this all day, but it seems redundant to belabor the point--evil and sin lead to death and misery...it doesn't matter if it's a stroke of a pen by a human saying it is okay...sorceries and pharmaceuticals destroy lives..

I'd really like to see if you have better options than the pharmaceutical industry. They may be dicks but their products aren't useless crap, unlike the witch doctors who run the alternative medicine industry.

I am personally of the opinion that if there is any illegal "industry" that brings in more than a certain dollar amount per year (and we can certainly debate the actual numbers), then we should at least explore the possibility of decriminalization. By allowing it to be sold and consumed under the proper conditions, properly regulated to ensure safety of all parties involved, and taxed, we would both save a lot of money from the costs of keeping it illegal (police, courts, jails) and also bring in more income (tax revenue).

As I said before, we can debate the actual dollar amount but there's little doubt in my mind that marijuana and prostitution would be the first two industries that become legal.

By the way, I personally would be dead right now if it weren't for cocaine. I was born with an obstruction in my nose and had surgery when I was 14 years old to correct it. Two weeks after the surgery, I hemorrhaged and lost more than half of my blood. The only way they could stop the bleeding was with cocaine, which is apparently a very good coagulant.

you're kidding right? I guess we could end murder too by making killing legal and calling it by a different name..

Drugs directly and indirectly kill up to 350,000 Americans per year

Not even comparable. Murder actively harms others against their will whereas drug users dying is their own damn fault and more importantly, they consented to taking that risk. You might as well outlaw driving too if that's going to be your logic. In fact, driving is MORE dangerous than drugs as there exists a strong possibility of harming others when you wreck your car.

According to the US Dept of Labor and Statistics drug usage leads to billions in loss of productivity

I'm sure the internet reduces productivity by a lot too. I often hear of people that go online at work. Not only that, but you can buy the aforementioned dangerous cars on the internet. So lets outlaw the internet.

evil and sin lead to death and misery

Sin doesn't exist and evil doesn't always lead to death. That said, we should strive to avoid evil, which is why I avoid fundamentalist Christianity.

it doesn't matter if it's a stroke of a pen by a human saying it is okay...sorceries and pharmaceuticals destroy lives

Again, so do cars and the internet. Life has risks and you can either deal with them or you can ban everything that has any chance of causing damage and be treated like an infant that can't be trusted to make choices. And since when are pharmaceuticals evil? They keep people alive!

Keeping certain drugs illegal seems to be more about maintaining a facade of moral purity than preventing addiction and helping addicts. And it has been a dramatic failure in the USA. I'm all for exploring ways to undermine drug cartels, and legalization is worth trying.

Heroin isn't legal over here and you're right, there are no junkies at all........ </sarcasm>

Legalising and regulating all drugs would make them a less harmful as they wouldn't be cut with more toxic substances and there would be some form of quality control, it would mean that people wanting to take drugs wouldn't have to associate with with those involved in criminal activity and it would bring much needed tax revenue to the country in question.

So you're against it because you want to stick it to the junkies? How petty of you.

Cocaine, Meth, Opium, anyone who thinks that legalizing them will fix everything is an idiot.

It won't...but it'll fix something, which is better than nothing. Legalization is just the first step. to solving the drug problem.

As the cocaine suppliers will be the SAME farmers and such... The dealers will set up front companies and turn to white collar crime. That or they'll start killing legit dealers.

And they'll also have to start applying for licenses and paying taxes on their crops and having their products inspected to keep them as safe as possible...just like the breweries did when alcohol was legalized. Legalization means regulation. Regulation means making it safer. Making it safer means fewer people die from it.

And lastly if the drugs get "Dumbed down" to be weaker, the people will just go to the Cartels for the "Good drugs". No one wants "Mild Cocaine".

Legalized drugs won't necessarily be "weaker" in that sense. They will, however, be safer. Again, I refer you to the legalization of alcohol. Did people keep going to the moonshiners for bathtub gin? No. They went to the legitimate businesses because they were cheaper, easier to find, safer, and legal. And really, which dealer would you trust more: the legitimate businessman with a license who just passed inspection, or the shady back-alley dealer selling out of his trenchcoat?

Seriously, is there anything at all to the claim of "pot is a gateway drug"? Aside from propaganda from those who want everything but nicotine and booze kept illegal. I'm starting to think the Dutch have it right: Pot is sold only in certain shops and presumably by those who have a clue about what they're doing, but I don't seem to hear very often of people fighting over it like I do in the case of crack or meth.

"Sorceries and pharmaceuticals"?
I don't doubt for one second that they are one and the same to most Raptards.
And for the record, if putting people in jail for using drugs worked, the USA would be the most drug free place on the planet, instead of the place with the most people in jail per capita.
Your "war on drugs" isn't working.

I agree to an extent. Things like pot I see no harm in, coke, heroin and such are a big danger and shouldn't be legalized.

But, the death statistics are a bit of a double standard. It's not ok for multiple types of drugs to kill some 300k people, but it's perfectly fine to let tobacco, by itself, take 400k, let alone adding alcohol to the mix.

the sorceries bit just makes me wonder at what point this person considers medicine medicine though.